Healing Naturally

I have fibromyalgia and have been actually diagnosed with it since 2002, even though I felt it’s impact long before that.  I noticed the severity of it increase at an extreme pace over the past year or so causing me to finally relent and request to be put on medication to help reduce the impact on my life.  As I work to regain control over it and manage it, I want options other than medicine.  That has led me to really start looking closer at the nutritional, medicinal and overall health benefits of what I put into my body.  If I listen closely to what my body is telling me, I believe that it will guide me to what is right and what is balanced for me.

Right now, today, what my fibromyalgia means to me is…

• I have to take medicine daily, twice daily
• I ache some everyday (I explain it to people that it feels like having a cross between arthritis and the flu all the time) and some days I hurt, bad.  The worst of those days felt as if every joint in my body was screaming in pain and it also felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing each joint at the same time.  That was an extreme day, thankfully, but the days that I classify as hurting days I hurt enough that it makes my joints feel stiff and it can be a bit hard to move.
• I have become extremely sensitive to barometric pressure changes and that has a big impact on how I feel.
• I notice that chemicals in foods affect how I feel, as do starchy foods.  I have also become attuned to chemical tastes in food.
• I sleep terrible.  If I can sleep for more than 1-2 hours at a time without waking up, I am thankful.  Feeling rested is not a part of my day.
• I sometimes have restless leg syndrome.  Strangely enough, I notice it if I eat late and go to bed within a couple of hours of that.
• My mood often fluctuates along with how I feel.  Frustration and depression are not uncommon on bad days.

My journey into permaculture and food forest is heavily focused on my desire to heal my body with food and herbs.  I think that as I get cleaner food that is more nutritionally dense, my body will cleanse itself and start to regenerate and repair the damage that is causing the pain and other effects.

Additionally, I think that this journey will help to heal my spirit and manage stress better.  When going outside into the sun or stepping into the edge of a forest, I often stop and just close my eyes and drink up all the glory of the experience with every other sense that I have.  It has such a calming and cleansing affect.

I have hope and a deep resolve to get better.  Step by step, day by day…Living a better life each day, one small change at a time.